When I first started this blog a couple of years back one especially supportive friend of mine predicted doom from the outset.
“You’re too conservative” was the basis of this unprovoked attack.
It was a fair point actually.
The best blogs, or at least the ones that get the greatest response, tend to be those written by people with the most slanted views.
And when it comes to Wolves, my opinion always seems to drift somewhere in the middle.
It’s not deliberate, it’s just that in most cases I can see both sides of the argument.
Lets talk practical examples.
Mick McCarthy for instance.
Is it not OK to disagree with a considerable number of his decisions without wanting him to be sacked?
In all my time supporting Wolves, I don’t think there’s ever been a manager whose judgment hasn’t been continually questioned. At least Mick has delivered a modicum of success.
So whilst I’ll always consider it my right to voice concerns over tactics and team selections, that doesn’t necessarily mean I want his head on a stick.
The problem with being a football fan though is that you’re always encouraged to hop on a bandwagon.
Stick with Mick.
You don’t know what you’re doing.
Choose!
I’m surely not the only one who’d prefer to hibernate in the middle ground?
What about all this Karl Henry nonsense too?
Yes, I was thrilled to see him taken off against Newcastle, but that’s because we were chasing the game and he’s a defensive midfielder.
That doesn’t have to mean I don’t recognise his value to the team in many other scenarios does it?
Stephen Ward is another interesting case study.
I lambasted him last season for many of his performances at left-back because he wasn’t up to it defensively.
Now he’s come good, some chums of mine have accused me of being fickle for the praise I’ve given him.
Erm, it’s quite simple, he did bad last season so he was crticised and he’s done notably better this campaign so he’s been praised.
Is there something wrong with that?
There certainly shouldn’t be.
In fact, isn’t there a well known saying that goes something like ‘when two parties express strong opposing views on a subject, the truth often lies somewhere in the middle’.
When it comes to Wolves and football in general actually, I think that quote holds considerable weight.
You’ll probably disagree though.
No your absolutely bang on…Good Blog….cheers
Well done mate. I was in the middle of writing you a blog and it was particularly crap, so you have saved me! I will try and finish it tomorrow evening.
It was all about why you’d want to eat beefburgers when there’s good steak waiting for you at home. I will say no more.
No mate, your blogs are bang on. You are my voice of sanity. If there is a Peter Snow swingometer, my views lurch from one extreme to the other. Yours is somewhere nearer the middle, so I try to benchmark my irrationality with your sanity. If I am anywhere near, then I am thinking straight.
You don’t moan half as much, thus you get more respect – I am sure!
I always find I sit in the middle in football related discussions. It’s such a variable field with form and luck playing such vital roles it’s hard to take any definite positions at all.
But isn’t that what makes it such a fantastic sport?
I’ve always found the blog posts to be balanced and well thought out… and to be honest that’s what keeps me coming back.
Keep it up lads
I think your tone is good, as there are enough people who are in violently opposing camps who comment, so it gives them an ideal battle ground!
For some reason I’m feeling more hopeful about everything these days and my Albion supporting mate who was very quick to take the piss after they beat us has gone strangely quiet right now which is also nice for the 2 week international break!
I’m still getting random texts along the lines of “2-0, the black county’s ours, wanky wanderers, dingle scum” – mates eh?
It all seemed so harmless when I gave him continual shit over the 3-1 for months on end…
We’ve still got the home leg eh?
If we didn’t have a couple of referees, like you and Benny boy, we would degenerate into the mindless, insulting, mob mentality you see elsewhere, especially down the road at the crem.
We Wolves fans are a cut above the rest of the footballing world, and our good natured, thought provoking, intelligent banter bears this out!
It would be incredibly boring and blah blah if we all had the same opinions and favorites and all agreed with each other, but it’s the way this blog’s contributors go about discussing and disagreeing, or agreeing, which is fun and enjoyable.
Just as Hamsterlet, Louie, Sheffield and a few others don’t always, well, OK, never, agree with me, there are others who do, all the time and some of the time.
I have been proved right and wrong as have others, so it is an upsy downy situation, which makes it interesting.
You should keep on doing what you’ve been doing from the start, Thomas.
This is an excellent blog site,………….and bollocks to anyone who disagrees!!!
Having said that….FOMM
Just to disagree with you again Clive i’ll agree with you and say that this is a good blog. Also I do agree with you that Berra is a bit rubbish.
To add another note it is the quality of the blogs and comments (even the frustrating ones) that make it worthwhile coming back.
Keep up the good work!
Just to be an awkward bugger, Clive, I completely agree with everything you’ve just said! In fact, I don’t think anyone could disagree with this!
Especially the ‘same opinion’ part – if we did have the same opinion then what would the point of a blog be?
Good blog Thomas. As someone else who thinks hes on the middle ground I can understand where your coming from. However, I think the more extreme characters definately make the comments interesting.
I agree with you fully on the points you raised and it does annoy me sometimes when people are so inflexible with there views. For instance their are some who even if Wolves went on a mind boggling run of results this season and ended up securing an FA cup win and a Champions league spot would still be calling for Micks head. Generally they are the same people that think a player can’t improve during their career and don’t deserve credit for doing so (Wardy)! I also count in those fans who see ten minutes of a players performance on match of the day, or as a substitute or in meaningless international and immediately paint them as the clubs saviour (Guedierra, Vokes et al).
I also count all the England fans who think that we stand a cat in hells chance of winning an international competition because we beat Spain at the weekend.
Pragmatism it may be boring but is saves you from ulcers!!
2 or 3 quality players have to be signed in the January window or it will be another major struggle hoping for the collapse of Swansea & Norwich. What are the chances of survival for Mick and the Team, I’d say 50/50 right now.
Open the wallet, mid table Championship football is not acceptable to most. Having watched almost every game in both Premier & Championship so far this season, I believe most teams in the top half of the lower division are as good or better than Wolves current side. We beat a pathetic Wigan side at home and everything is ok? Lets be realistic and sign the quality we desperately need.
No, everything isn’t okay – we’re still in danger, and an Everton loss will guarantee a slide to 16th place because of the other matches on the day – but it’s a better situation than us losing to Wigan!
“The problem with being a football fan though is that you’re always encouraged to hop on a bandwagon”
Spot on! 100%!
Even if you are in the middle ground, it would only take a couple of positive/negative comments for you to be labelled a happy clapper/numpty!
Make room for me on the boat! Couldn’t have put it better myself. The Mick lovers who believe he can do no wrong are as annoying as the one’s calling for his head, if not more so! It is a fan’s right to say what he/she likes really. Everyone has an opinion and every fan wants the best for Wolves. It’s brilliant to debate and opine, but we shouldn’t lambast each other.
Got to disagree with you Tom. I’m right and if you think otherwise you’re a mindless idiot
In The Middle-I’m too concerned about being in the bottom 3. Concerned that Ostrich like behaviour could become rampant on the back of beating WIGAN’ who could have won the game themselves.
Micks latest ramblings-are more evidence that he doesn’t have a clue and he doesn’t want to let things drop.-wWe will not progress-unless we get 3 good players in-then maybe The North Bank will not be such a White Elephant. 3 M’s prove me wrong.
I don’t think they’ll spend the money to get in ‘3 good players’ – so in general Mick is working with all of the resources he’s got. I don’t think he’s done a perfect job, but I think results are fair considering.
Has he always played the best team available to him? Perhaps not, although as we have recently seen, some of our reserve players aren’t really up to scratch as much as we really wanted them to have a chance.
Has he always played the best formation? No, not in my opinion, most obviously against QPR.
But these are only some lesser errors.
I believe that the biggest error belongs to the club’s management team, namely not investing enough in the squad.
It is completely obvious that after barely staying up last year that we needed a few more quality players throughout the team, glaringly in fact!
Where is the money? Where is the investment? It’ll be no good having a big stadium in the Championship, ‘cos who’s going to fill it to see Doncaster?
I hear that Foley and Zubar should soon be back from injury though. This at least is good news as it gives us more options in defence.
Well thomas don’t know if you got that right, stuck in the middle, or should
you have said stuck in a muddle,like a few of our supporters and most
notably our management contingent.
Um…what? I might just be being stupid but I’m not sure what you’re saying – just that MM is muddled?
A bit cryptic i know.but someone with your intellect could work it out?
Confused like MM yes but also like some fan’s who think all is well.
yeah – I ought to have worked that out lol
Steve Morgan and Jez Moxey MM The Fans
Running a Business Stuck in the middle Wanting success
Stop being selfish Mr Morgan. Become impoverished and make us happy for a few years! Jez can do the spin and make you sound like a demi god. You know its worth it.
That did not work at all, it was all spaced out when i typed it!
SM and JM – running the biz
MM – stuck in the …..
The fans – wanting success
This is pretty much the only Wolves blog I know right now. I’m gonna be honest, I’m a Canadian and until Toronto FC came about in 2007 in the MLS, I wasn’t too much of a footy follower. I got big on the team and on the sport but the MLS season is very strange and ends right when the rest of the world is in the midst of their seasons. I’m not entirely sure why I even got hooked on the Wolves, but I just kind of did (you think I’d start frontrunning with an elite team to offset the misery that TFC generates on a regular basis). Who knows why. One of these days I’d love to make the trip to Molineux and watch a Wolverhampton Wanderers game firsthand.
All I’m really saying is, all of this is really just what happens when you’re a fan. It happens in hockey too. The only real thing hockey fans will ever agree on is that “Potvin sucks”, and that’s it!
When the Wolves do good, it’s good, and it’s worth looking into the positives of each match, and when they do bad, there’s nothing wrong with pointing out the negatives as long as we got a happy medium.
Hi Kaye and welcome. You’ll no doubt be getting a greeting from our founder and Messiah, Thomas and his Deputy Dawg, Ben. Lovely to have you on board.
Well if it’s misery you’re used to, get ready for plenty more now you’re a Wolves fan.Despite this, any Wolves supporter will tell you we are simply different class. The club, the fans and this wonderful blog. Fasten your seat belt and enjoy the ride!
PS. What the heck does Potvin sucks mean? Oh and please never, never refer to football as ‘sarrcer’!
What about all those young players we have produced who are stuck in the middle. When will they get a chance-There doesn’t appear to be a strategy for blooding this young talent apart from loaning them out!
Our club has always produced players-and good ones over the years-Cullis’ Cubs and later on some fantastic players came through-With the cost of the Academy rising shouldn’t we be seeing some return-rather than going to Ireland.
Wolves have always raided the lower leagues and brought players in who have made real impact too-I don’t see much evidence of that.
Where are the Baileys, Ernie Hunts etc!
Didn’t Peter Knowles come through the Academy?
If he didn’t, then we got him from somewhere very young.
The best player EVER to wear the Wolves colours, EVER.
Would have been a regular for England, possibly going to Mexico in 1970, and challenging Pele for player of the tournament. That’s how good he was.
Yes he did Clive-i and what a player-there were many other names running through my head-so where is the young talent now-sitting in the reserves/youth teams.
Kenny Hibbitt cost £5k from Bradford PA-i COULD GO ON AND ON BUT WILL STOP NOW!
I`ve got a mate whose nicknmame is creosote – because he always sits on the fence.
Life isn`t like that however, in football fans` lifetimes they may change job, change wives, change where they live, but you never change the football club you support. In any long term relationship of any sort there will be ups & downs, peaks and troughs, agreements and disagreements.
I wonder is it the more mature amongst us, (forgive me all you youngsters) like my mate Clive from Houston and myself, who in our earliy sixties show all the Victor Meldrew tendencies, and let rip with venom when things are not as they surely should be. When things could be, and should be significantly better than right now.
Some chaps theory on something goes “its not the longest established or strongest species that survive, it is the most adaptable.” Can this be realted to certain football mangers we alternately love or hate. See you at Everton everybody.
McIdiot talks about loyalty to the players is key no matter how bad they play
well where does that leave the other squad member’s ,waiting for someone
to get injured seems to be their only chance.that brings me to another
thought whats going happen in the transfer window come january,is he
going to stick with what he’s got and still be loyal or will he see sense and
delve into the transfer market probably NOT.
Full interview with the loyalty comment…
http://www.wolves.co.uk/page/News/0,,10307~2515844,00.html
What IS going to happen at the Jan transfer window? I can see nothing happening – it’ll probably depend on where we are in the league table!
Point taken Hamlet,The E&S failed to print the whole interview-about if they waver he won’t hesitate to change it.We’ll have to wait and see about that.
The E&S are always doing that – though I think that the printed newspaper has the full interview (that’s just a guess though!)
I think in all fairness all of the papers cherry pick quotes in order to make a story. Like the old classic.
Player A “I love it at the club A, I’m enjoying my football here, my family is settled here. I’m flattered by the interested by Club B but I’m happy where I am now.”
Papers “Exclusive. Player A flattered by the interest of Club B. Says he’ll leave if he’s not kept happy.”
Honestly, if you believe half of what is written about players or managers in the press your wrong 50% the time!
Stuck in the middle. A fair representation of Wolves’s ambition with Super Mick.
Am I missing something?
Who cares, whether your one extreme or the other or somewhere in between, we have a common desire, for the team to do well. Lets think about the next game, minimum is a point at the weekend against the toffee’s, Fletcher to lead the line, Doyle on the bench with a five man midfield.